A  CONS'J'JTUENT  TO  A  REPRESENTATIVE. 


Hon.  Heniiy  J.  Raymond,  M.  C. 

Sir As  a  public  man  your  acts  are  subject  to  criticism.  You  admit  this  by 
publishing-  in  the  paper  of  which  you  are  the  responsible  editor,  numerous 
praises  of  your  Congressional  acts.  I  propose  a  criticism  of  censure,  and  ask 
that  my  censure  m-iy  have  as  wide  a  dissemination  as  did  the  praise  of  your 
admirers.  1  disapprove  of  your  Congressional  career.  J  do  not  mean  that  all 
you  have  done  in  Congress  merits  my  condemnation,  but  J  do  mean  that  you 
have  done  more  to  call  for  my  censure  than  for  praise.  Hence  1  use  the  term 
“  career.” 

My  first  charge  against  you  is,  that  you  have  not  attended  to  the  business 
that  you  were  sent  to  do. 

You  undertook  to  be  our  agent  in  Congress,  and  do  for  us  the  work  we,  as  a 
mass,  could  not  do  for  ourselves.  You  have  neglected  a  very  largo  part  of 
this  work,  thus  showing  yourself  an  unfaithful  representative. 

Specifications : — 

Between  the  fourth  day  of  December  and  the  seventh  of  April,  the  roll  was 
called  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  times.  On  thirty-five  of  these  calls ,  or 
more  than  one  quarter  of  the  whole ,  you  failed  to  vote,  notwithstanding  the 
fac+  fhat  seme  of  the  .:n<  tions  on  which  you  neglected  to  -vote  involved  ques¬ 
tions  and  principles  of  the  most  paramount  importance  to  the  nation,  and  to 
the  perpetuity  of  our  institutions. 

Shall  1  remind  you  of  some  of  these  propositions  on  which  you  neglected 
to  attend  to  your  duty  P 

December  thirteenth,  you  did  not  vote  on  referring  Mr.  Farnsworth’s  reso¬ 
lution  in  regard  to  the  equality  of  Civil  Rights. 

T  ou  should  have  voted  on  an  important  matter  like  this.  I  do  not  like  to 
have  an  agent  neglect  any  duty. 

The  next  day  you  did  not  vote  on  a  resolution  declaring  treason  to  be  a 
crime.  Was  not  this  matter  worth  your  attention  ?  On  the  same  day  you 
neglected  to  vote  on  a  motion  to  table  Mr.  Wilson’s  resolution,  referring  all 
papers  relative  to  representation  in  the  late  rebellious  States  to  the  Joint 
Committee. 

I  will  presently  remind  you  how-you  did  vote  on  the  main  question  in  regard 
to  this  resolution,  and  what  company  you  were  in  when  voting. 

On  the  eighteenth  of  December  you  did  not  vote  on  a  motion  tabling  Mr. 
Baker’s  resolution  in  regard  to  Class  Rule,  &c.,  &c. 

On  the  next  day  you  did  not  vote  on  motion  ordering  the  engrossment  and 
third  reading  of  the  bill  relating  to  Inter-State  communication.  Is  not  the 
intercourse  between,  and  commercial  facilities  of,  the  States  worth  vour 
notice  ?  J 

H  seems  to  me  that  a  Representative  of  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the 
nation  ought  to  take  interest  enough  in  such  matters  to  be  in  his  place  and 
vote.  „ 

January  thirty-first,  you  did  not  vote  on  Mr.  Schenck’s  substitute  for  the 
Joint  Committee’s  resolution  amending  the  Constitution  in  regard  to  the  basis 
of  Congressional  representation. 

.  %  anfl  by  I  will  remind  you  how  you  did  vote  on  the  Committee’s  resolu¬ 
tion,  above  referred  to. 

On  the  ninth  of  February,  you  failed  to  vote  on  three  distinct  motions,  con¬ 
cerning  the  A  aval  Appropriation  Hill.  Is  the  navy  not  worth  your  attention? 

On  the  thirteenth  of  February  you  did  not  vote  on  motion  to  give  Mr 
Johnson,  of  Arkansas,  a  seat  on  the  floor  of  the  House.  You  should  have 
voted  on  that  motion. 

On  the  twenty-first  of  February,  you  did  not  vote  on  resolution  in  regard  to 
admitting  Representatives  from  Rebel  States  before  Congress  shall  have  de¬ 
clared  said  States  entitled  to  such  representation. 

Was  that  great  question  unworthy  of  a  vote  of  a  member  from  the  Empire 
State  P  Did  you  suppose  your  constituents  felt  no  interest  in  that  question  ? 

On  the  twenty-third,  you  did  not  vote  on  the  claim  of  Mr.  Voorliecs  to  a 
seat  m  the  House.  Did  your  expectations  or  desire  that  ho  would  vote  with 
you  on  great  questions  against  your  party,  prompt  your  non-response  at  roll- 
call.  ,  I  hope  not,  but  as  you  did,  on  the  same  day,  neglect  to  vote  on  Mr.  Wash¬ 
burn  s  right  to  the  seat  occupied  by  Voorhees,  suspicious  men  might  think  that 
you  favored  Voorhees,  and  hence  did  not  then  vote  against  him." 

On  tho  twenty-sixth,  you  did  not  vote  on  Mr.  McClurg’s  resolution  as  to  the 
condihon  of  the  people  of  the  Rebel  States,  with  a  view  to  taxation,  protec¬ 
tion,  &c.  \\  as  this  matter  too  unimportant  for  your  attention  ?  Don’t  you 

care  about  taxation  or  protection?  Your  constituents  care  for  both.  On  the 
same  day  you  neglected  to  vote  on  a  Constitutional  amendment. 


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Don’t  you  care  for  the  provisions  of  the  national  charter  ?  Are  you  unin¬ 
terested  in  its  character  ?  Your  constituents  take  great  interest  in  that  instru¬ 
ment,  and  they  desire  their  Representative  to  scan  all  proposed  changes  in  it. 

On  the  same  day  you  did  not  vote  on  Mr.  Banks’s  motion  in  regard  to  the 
Paris  Exposition.  Did  you  take  no  interest  in  that  matter  at  that  time  ?  The 
great  city  from  which  you  were  sent  was  certainly  entitled  to  your  presence 
and  vote  on  a  matter  of  that  kind.  You  do  not  attend  to  business. 

On  the  twenty-eighth,  you  failed  to  vote  on  motion  in  regai d  to  a  Consti¬ 
tutional  amendment,  giving  Congress  power  to  pass  laws  securing  to  the  citi¬ 
zens  of  each  State  all  the  rights  and  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  several 
States,  including  protection  to  life,  liberty,  and  property.  Are  these  matters 
unworthy  of  your  vote?  Were  you  sent  to  Congress  to  neglect  such  things? 
I  did  not  vote  for  you  with  any  such  idea ;  in  giving  you  my  vote  I  did  not 
expect  that  you  would  in  every  particular  vote  to  please  me,  but  I  did  think 
and  hope  that  you  would  not  neglect  any  important  duty.  I  am  disappointed 
in  this  as  in  other  parts  of  your  Congressional  course. 

On  the  fifth  of  March,  you  did  not  vote  on  Mr.  Miller’s  proposition  concern¬ 
ing  United  States  Bonds.  Are  the  government  securities  too  small  a  matter  for 
your  vote  ?  On  the  same  day  you  failed  to  vote  on  certain  amendments  to 
the  Military  Academy  bill.  Don’t  you  care  anything  about  West  Point? 

On  the  next  day  you  repeated  this  neglect  of  duty  on  other  amendments  to 
the  same  bill.  On  the  twelfth,  you  did  not  vote  with  the  great  bulk  of  the 
Union  party  to  instruct  the  Library  Committee  to  procure  a  portrait  of  Joshua 
It.  Gildings . 

I  could  not  expect  your  vote  for  any  such  “Radical”  measure  as  that,  but 
I  should  have  more  respect  for  you  if  you  had  attended  to  your  business,  and, 
if  you  could  not  say  “  aye,”  have  said  “nay.” 

I  admire  an  attentive  agent. 

On  the  same  day  you  did  not  vote  on  referring  to  Committees  of  Ways  and 
Means  a  proposition  to  tax  U.  S.  notes  and  securities.  Have  you  no  holders 
of  these  securities  among  your  constituents  ? 

Does  the  great  city  you  in  part  represent,  or  rather  that  employs  you  as  one 
of  its  Representatives,  have  no  interest  in  those  securities  ?  More  neglect  of  duty. 

On  the  same  day  you  neglected  to  vote  on  a  bill  to  regulate  trade  with  the 
British  North  American  provinces. 

On  the  same  day  you  did  not  vote  on  motion  to  print  reports  from  the  Re¬ 
construction  Committee.  The  people  desired  to  hear  from  that  Committee; 
you  should  have  been  on  hand  and  voted  on  such  a  motion.  Just  look  at  your¬ 
self  in  this  mirror.  Here,  on  one  day,  are  several  questions  of  the  most  vital 
importance  to  the  whole  country,  and  especially  to  the  city  you  are  from, 
great  questions  of  finance,  trade,  and  other  important  matters,  on  none  of 
which  did  you  vote.  Am  I  not  justified  in  telling  you  that  you  have  not  at¬ 
tended  to  your  business  ?  Perhaps  others  of  your  constituents  may  help  to 
answer  my  question.  March  thirteenth,  you  did  not  rote  on  the  Civil  Eights 
Bill,  a  bill  of  more  importance  to  this  people  and  to  mankind  than  any  on 
which  you  can  ever  again  be  permitted  to  vote.  A  measure  demanded  by 
necessity  on  the  one  side,  and  good  faith  on  the  other;  a  measure  that 
the  great  State  you  are  from  desired,  and  which  your  own  constituents 
wanted.  On  the  passage  of  this  great  bill  you  failed  to  vote,  not  because 
you  were  not  in  Washington  at  the  time.  You  were  there,  and  voted  on 
the  same  day  on  Mr.  Laflin’s  motion  to  print  extra  copies  of  the  report  of  the 
Joint  Committee.  Why  you  neglected  to  vote  on  the  Civil  Rights  Bill,  I 
do  not  know. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  question  motives ;  I  criticise  actions,  even  actions 
of  neglect.  In  failing  to  vote  on  that  bill,  you  showed  yourself  unfit  for  the 
place  you  occupy ;  it  would  have  been  more  manly  to  have  voted  against  the 
bill,  than  not  to  vote  at  all.  Your  constituents,  like  other  Americans,  admire 
open,  square  work ;  they  don’t  like  doubt,  shrinking,  or  neglect  of  duty. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  March,  besides  other  neglects,  you  did  not  vote  on  either 
of  several  amendments  to  the  Loan  Bill. 

Your  neglect  to  vote  on  measures  of  this  kind  seems  to  have  by  this  time 
become  chronic.  Financial  questions  do  hot  seem  to  interest  you. 

April  second,  you  did  not  vote  in  regard  to  a  Ship  Canal  in  Wisconsin.  The 
commercial  intercourse  between  the  States  seems  to  have  no  interest  for  a 
Representative  from  a  commercial  city.  ^ 

April  seventh,  you  did  not  vote  on  motion  to  give  Dodge  the  seat  occupied  by 
Brooks.  You  don’t  attend  to  business.  You  ought  to  be  more  attentive. 

These,  my  Dear  Sir,  are  but  a  portion  of  your  neglects,  a  part  only  of  your 
failures,  only  a  partial  list  of  your  sins  of  omission,  but  quite  enough  to  jus- 


3 


tify  me  in  saying1  that  you  do  not  attend  to  business,  that  you  aro  an  unfaithful 
agent,  that  you  have  not,  up  to  the  date  mentioned  above,  done  what  you 
agreed  to  do  when  you  took  our  votes. 

I  need  not  he  told  that  your  vote  on  any  of  the  measures  referred  to  above 
would  not  have  changed  the  result;  I  shall  not  admit  any  such  plea.  If  any 
of  these  measures  were  right,  you  should  have  helped  pass  them.  If  any 
were  wrong,  your  vote  should  have  been  against  them. 

I  cannot  excuse  your  inattention  to  business — your  other  constituents  will 
remember  this  against  you. 

I  now  leave  y'our  sins  of  omission,  and  come  to  more  serious  sins  of  com¬ 
mission  :  your  crimes.  I  speak  plainly,  I  intend  to  say  crimes,  and  the  major¬ 
ity  of  your  constituents  will  agree  with  me. 

The  first  of  your  votes  that  I  shall  censure  was  of  but  little  importance, 
only  so  far  as  it  displays  what  I  consider  “meanness,”  “  littleness,”  on  your 
part.  I  refer  to  your  vote  refusing  the  Ilall  of  the  House  to  the  Freedman' s 
Aid  Commission,  a  society  whose  efforts  were  laudable,  and  whose  beneficiaries 
are  the  wards  of  the  nation.  This  vote  was  not  on  the  general  principle  of 
refusing  the  Hall  for  all  “  outside”  purposes,  because  within  a  week  you  did 
vote  its  use  to  the  Christian  Commission.  Your  prejudice  against  the  blacks 
is  stronger  than  your  sympathy  for  them.  I  suppose  you  can’t  help  it. 

On  the  eleventh  of  December,  you  voted  to  suspend  the  rules  to  allow  Mr. 
Niblack  to  introduce  a  resolution  giving  the  privilege  of  the  floor  to  persons 
claiming  to  be  members  from  the  Hebei  States,  pending  the  action  of  Congress 
in  the  matter.  On  this  motion  there  were  39  yeas  and  110  nays.  Among  the 
yeas,  thero  were,  besides  yourself,  such  men  as  Ancona,  Brooks,  Le  Blond, 
Niblack,  Rogers,  Voorhees,  and  others  whose  course  during  the  war  was  cal¬ 
culated  to  aid  the  enemies  of  the  government. 

What  is  that  adage  about  judging  of  a  man  by  the  company  he  keeps  ? 

On  December  fourteenth  the  following  resolution  came  up,  viz. : — 

“That  all  papers  which  may  be  offered  relative  to  the  representation  of  the  so-called  Con¬ 
federate  States  of  America,  or  either  of  them,  shall  be  referred  to  the  Joint  Committeo  of 
fifteen,  without  debate,  and  no  member  shall  be  admitted  from  either  of  said  States  until 
Congress  shall  have  declared  6uch  States,  or  either  of  them,  entitled  to  representation. 
Yeas  107 — Nays  50. 

Among  tho  nays  were  the  same  class  of  men  as  I  mentioned  above. 

On  the  eighth  of  January,  the  following  resolution  was  up  to  be  voted  on, 
viz  : — 

“  That  in  order  to  the  maintenance  of  the  national  authority  and  the  protection  of  tho 
loyal  citizens  cf  the  seceding  States,  it  is  the  sense  of  this  House  that  the  military  forces  of 
the  government  should  not  be  withdrawn  from  those  States  until  the  two  Houses  of  Con¬ 
gress  shall  have  ascertained  and  declared  their  further  presence  there  no  longer  necessary. 
Yeas  94 — Nays  37. 

Among  tho  nays,  including  yourself,  Mr.  Raymond,  were  Brooks,  Chanler, 
Voorhees,  and  other  opponents  of  the  party  that  elected  you.  Have  these  men 
changed  their  political  views,  or  have  your  own  been  altered? 

Just  look  at  this  resolution  carefully.  It  declares  it  unsafe  to  withdraw  tho 
military  from  certain  places,  before  Congress  shall  have  ascertained'  and  declared 
it  safe  to  do  so ;  now  in  order  to  ascertain  tho  condition  of  those  localities, 
Congress  had,  by  your  help,  appointed  a  committeo  with  power  to  send  for 
persons  and  papers,  and  while  this  committee  was,  under  the  authority  of  Con¬ 
gress,  trying  to  ascertain  so  that  that  body  might  be  ablo  to  declare  it  safe  to 
withdraw  tho  military ;  while  the  information  that  came  from  those  localities 
went  to  show  tho  imperative  necessity  of  still  keeping  troops  thero  to  protect 
loyal  whites  and  freed  blacks  (both  classes  having  been  our  friends  during  tho 
war,  and  both  from  that  fact  receiving  6uch  treatment  at  tho  hands  of  tho 
lato  Rebels  as  to  demand  the  protection  of  the  government),  and  beforo  tho  Ex¬ 
ecutive  had  considered  it  safe  to  issue  his  Peace  Proclamation,  you,  a  Representa¬ 
tive  from  a  loyal  State,  sent  by  an  honorable  constituency,  one  that  desires  to 
make  just  returns  for  services  rendered,  sent  by  a  constituency  whoso  every 
member  was  and  is  for  the  maintenance  of  the  national  faith  to  all,  black  as  well 
as  white — a  constituency  that  would  not  for  an  instant  countenance  a  wrong 
by  their  votes  or  neglecting  to  vote,  place  in  jeopardy  or  danger  tho  humblest 
person  in  the  land — you,  their  Representative,  dared  to  injuro  them  and  insult 
tho  party  that  made  you  a  Congressman,  by  voting  against  this  resolution — 
dared  cast  that  wicked  vote  against  justice!  You  dared  to  bo  found  voting 
sido  by  sido  with  and  using  the  same  “nay”  as  tho  worst  enemies  this  nation 
ever  had.  You,  my  dear  sir,  will  livo  to  regret  that  vote. 

January  ninth,  you  voted  against  referring  Mr.  Bingham’s  resolution  of  con¬ 
fidence  in  tho  President,  to  the  Joint  Committee.  Yeas  107,  Nays  32.  You 
were  again  with  the  old  enemies  of  the  government. 


4 


I  presume  you  may  say  in  excuse  for  this  ‘’nay)”  that  a  resolution  of  this 
kind  did  not  require  any  reference  whatever,  and  that  the  House  should  have 
voted  on  it  without  referring.  I  admit  the  force  of  the  excuse,  hut  it  seems  to 
me  that  as  it  did  not  involve  any  saci'iuce  of  principle,  or  convey  any  condem¬ 
nation  of  the  President,  you  might  have  voted  with  your  party,  or  rather  with 
the  Representatives  of  the  party  that  elected  you,  and  not  with  the  most  bitter 
opponents  of  that  party,  and  some  of  the  most  implacable  enemies  (during  the 
war)  of  the  country.  Let  that  vote  go. 

January  thirty-first,  you  voted  against  a  resolution  from  the  Joint  Committee 
proposing  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  in  regard  to  the  basis  of  Congres¬ 
sional  Representation.  Yeas  120 — Nays  46.  Again  you  arc  found  in  company 
with  former  political  opponents ;  again  voting  against  the  party  that  elected 
you;  again  voting  with  old-time  sympathizers  with  the  Rebellion,  again  by 
your  vote  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  men  who  in  times  gone  by  would 
have  utterly  crushed  you  and  the  party  that  elected  you.  And  this  too  in  the 
absence  of  any  evidence  that  they  have  changed  their  political  opinion  in  face 
of  the  fact  that  these  men  are  to  day  doing,  as  they  have  been  doing  any  timo 
the  last  five  years,  all  they  possibly  can  to  bring  back  to  places  of  honor 
and  profit  rebels  whose  unwashed  hands  are  yet  red  with  the  blood  of  your 
fellow  citizens ;  aye,  of  your  constituents.  Mr.  Raymond,  you  are  making 
great  political  mistakes,  you  are  guilty  of  bigb  political  crimes;  votes  in  Con¬ 
gress  in  those  days  are  acts ;  great  acts,  and  a  wrong  vote  is  a  criminal  act. 
Your  are  guilty  of  several  such. 

>On  the  ninteenth  February,  you  voted  against  the  following  resolution  : 

“  That  in  the  language  of  the  Proclamation  of  the  President  of  May  20th,  1SG5,  the 
rebellion  which  was  waged  by  a  portion  of  the  peoplgjof  the  United  States  against  the  pro-, 
perly  constituted  authorities  of  the  government  thereof,  in  the  most  violent  and  revolting' 
form,  but  whose  organized  and  armed  forces  have  now  been  almost  entirely  overcome,  has, 
in  its  revolutionary  progress,  deprived  the  people  of  the  States  in  which  it  was  organized,  of 
all  civil  government.”  Yeas  102 — Nays  3G. 

This  resolution,  Mr.  Raymond,  was  in  the  avords  of  the  President;  it  was  not 
framed  by  any  of  that  class  of  Unionists  whom  you  endeavor  to  stigmatize  as*-" 
il  Radical.”  It  was  the  President’s  own  language,  and  yet  you  had  the  hardi¬ 
hood  to  be  found  voting  on  it  with  Voorhecs,  Brooks,  and  other  apologists  for 
Rebellion.  If  these  States  had  not,  by  the  progress  of  tbc  war,  been  deprived 
of  all  civil,  government,  on  what  ground  and  by  wbat  right  had  the  Presi¬ 
dent  sent  them  Provisional  Governors,  with  military  power  to  enforce  their 
acts  F  Martial  Law  had  superseded  the  Civil.  That  was  a  foolish  vote  on 
your  part,  and  doubly  criminal  for  being  in  such  company.  On  tnc  same  day 
you  committed  a  greater  crime  by  voting  against  the  following  resolution : 

“  That  whenever  the  people  of  any  State  are  thus  deprived  of  all  civil  government,  it  be¬ 
comes  the  duty  of  Congress  by  appropriate  legislation  to  enable  them  to  organize  a  State 
Government,  and  in  the  language  of  the  Constitution  to  guaranty  to  such  States  a  Republi¬ 
can  form  of  government.”  Yeas  1G4 — Nays  33. 

Voorhces,  Brooks  &  Co.  in  the  negative.  Once  more  you  are  found  with 
former  enemies  of  the  Government,  men  not  yet  converted  to  the  right.  Let 
us  analyze  your  vote.  By  voting  “  No”  with  fivc-ycars-old  copperheads,  on 
this  Resolution,  you  say  that  when  the  people  of  a  State  arc  by  the  progress  of 
a  war  deprived  of  civil  government  it  is  not  the  ditty  of  Congress  to  aid 
them,  in  establishing  such  government ,  and  requiring  it  to  be  Republican  in  form. 

The  logical  sequence  of  your  position  on  this  question  is  simply  the  essence 
of  State  Sovereignty,  not  State  Rights  merely,  but  State  Sovereignty ,  pure  and 
simple,  and  this  i3  and  was  the  heart,  soul,  body,  brains,  and  all  of  the  spirit  of 
Rebellious  Secession.  If  Congress  can’t  do  this  sort  of  work,  it  must  be  done, 
if  at  all,  by  the  People  of  the  chaotic  States,  regardless  of  the  approval  or  criti¬ 
cism  of  Congress — and  that  is  only  another  phase  of  State  Supremacy ,  which  is 
nothing  more  or  less  than  Secession ,  Rebellion,  Treason  ;  and  the  men  whom 
you  voted  with  on  this  Resolution  are  the  consistent  and  persistent  advocates 
of  and  apologists  for  all  three  of  these  crimes.  Arc  you  to  be  judged  by  tho 
company  you  keep  ?  I  shall  not  at  this  time,  Mr.  Raymond,  refer  to  any  other 
vote  of  yours,  though  I  do  not  forget  the  vote  on  sustaining  the  Veto  of  the 
Civil  Rights  Bill.  That  matter  is  too  important  to  como  at  the  end  of  a  long 
letter  like  this.  At  another  time  your  constituents  will  refer  to  that  vote  if  I 
do  not. 

I  have  thus,  my  Dear  Sir,  endeavored  to  show  you  wherein  you  have  ne¬ 
glected  your  duty,  wherein  you  have  done  wrong ;  what  crimes  of  negation 
you  have  been  guiitv  of,  and  what  greater  crimes  of  positive  wrong  you  liavo 
committed.  You  will  be  tried  by  a  jury  of  your  constituents,  convicted,  sen¬ 
tenced,  executed;  and  may  the  future  have  merev  on  your  memory! 

Respectfully,  &c.,  &c., 


New  Youk,  April  30th,  1SG6. 


SINCLAIR  TOUSEY. 


